


Zap

by Assigned_Guilt



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2015-07-26
Packaged: 2018-04-08 06:47:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4294746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Assigned_Guilt/pseuds/Assigned_Guilt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I can remember this silly game from middle school that I never played but saw everywhere. Basically, Sarah makes Cos play and it all goes downhill from there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“No, it’s a stupid, middle school thing to do,” Cosima protests, "We're 10th graders, not 6th."

“It is not, geek, just gimme your hand.” Sarah grabs her sister’s arm. She turns Cosima’s hand over and writes something on her palm. Then she writes the word ‘ZAP’ on the back of her hand and a time: 2:40.

Cosima glares at her. “You realize that if this is a guy, it’s too straight for me, and if it’s a girl, they’d be freaked out, right?”

Sarah just laughs.

~

“Cosima, what is that on your hand?” Delphine asks as they pack up after math.

“Oh, uh, it’s nothing. It’s just a stupid middle school thing Sarah insisted on doing. Basically, she wrote a name on my palm, and, if I look at it before the time specified, I’m supposed to ask them out.”

Delphine sneaks a glance at Cosima’s palm and breaks into a fit of giggles, “Well that just seems cruel. Not even to you, to him. I think when this one is over, I’m going to give you some of my own.”

_Oh great,_ thinks Cosima, _it is a guy. But who could it be? And who does Delphine want to give me?_

~

By last period, Cosima’s curiosity is killing her. She just wants to know who it is. 

_40 more minutes. 35. 32. Agh._

She can see Delphine laughing silently at her struggling.

“Oh hush up you. You know I have a science brain. I need to know the answers,” she hisses at the blonde as their teacher writes notes on the board.

“You know… It’s pretty convenient, he’s even in this class.”

Cosima jumps, looking around the room and taking a poll of all the guys. _Andrew? Unlikely. Joe? Eh… Felix? He’s gay, so he’d think it was just as funny. Scott? Oh shit. It’s totally Scott. You fucking- Sarah! That’s not okay._

Now that Cosima has an idea of who it might be, now that she’s almost certain who it is, she needs to see even more to know if she’s right. 

“Delphine,” Cosima shoves an elbow into the taller girl’s side, “Hey, Del, is it Scott?” 

Delphine smirks. “Wouldn’t you like to know, Cos,” she teases.

Cosima groans and glares at her, then checks the clock: still 25 minutes left. “You’re dead, Cormier.”

“Ah but 'Niehaus', you forget, I already know who it is, you don’t. Don’t you have more pressing things to worry about than hurting me?”

Cosima continues glaring. She knows Delphine is right. The suspense is killing her. So, after a few more minutes of internal struggling, she does what any person trying to remain sane would do; she looks.

Written in Sarah’s messy handwriting across her left palm are the words “Scott in your last period.”

Cosima swears under her breath. Now she has to tell him. He knows she’s gay, but she knows he has a crush on her. _This is going to kill him._

She glares back over at Delphine, who is watching her reaction. “You realize he’s not going to be able to handle this, right?” Delphine just laughs.

~

When class ends, Cosima hangs back, knowing that Scott takes a while to pack up. She doesn’t know how she’s going to do this. _Alright, straight and to the point. Actually, gay and to the point please, self. Otherwise he’ll get the wrong idea._

Delphine is waiting by the door, still laughing to herself and watching Cosima intently, not taking her eyes off her for a second. Cosima doesn’t miss this. She turns away to hide her amusement.

“Uh hey, Scott,” she says, turning back around and facing him, “here’s the thing. Sarah zapped me, and I’m supposed to ask you out because I looked at it too early. But that’s a bit too straight for me. So how about a hug?”

Scott doesn’t really react for a second. Then he seems to realize what’s going on. “Oh, uh, yeah. Sure, Cosima,” he stutters. He leans in, and she wraps her arms around him, patting him on the back.

“You’re a good sport, Scott,” she lets go, gives him a smile, and meets Delphine at the door.

~

When they get to their bench outside, Sarah is already waiting, and she starts laughing as soon as she sees her sister.

“So how’d it go? I know you, I know you couldn’t wait till the bell. How close did you get? Last ten minutes?”

Cosima just glares at her.

“Twenty, actually,” Delphine whispers to Sarah, which sends Sarah into another fit of laughs and causes Cosima to glare at them. She can't hold it for long, though, because Delphine meets her eyes and raises her eyebrows faux-seriously, drawing them both into giggles of their own.

 

~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be more chapters coming!


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Cosima and Sarah arrive the next day, Delphine is waiting by their spot in the foyer. She seems conflicted and remains so as they say hi and good morning. They sit around, all doing their own thing because they’re all tired. More people arrive, and their circle starts to grow. 

Cosima looks up from her book to see Delphine watching her, Delphine blushes and quickly looks away, striking up a conversation with Sarah. Cosima looks back down and grins at the page, pretending to read but now having more important things to think about. Once Delphine and Sarah stop talking, Cosima decides to say something.

“Hey, Del, what about those Zaps?” 

“Huh? Oh. Yeah,” Delphine seems again to struggle with something, “Yeah, sure, get over here.”

Suddenly, Delphine has a burst of confidence. _I can do this._ She grabs Cosima’s hand and writes something on the palm, on top of where the faded “Scott in your last period” is written. Then she turns the hand over and writes ‘ZAP’. Then she considers for a minute. _Do I make it short so she just knows? Or long so she has to look? She’ll look sooner if there’s less hope of making it._

Delphine has made a decision. Under the word she has just written she writes a time; 7:30am. Cosima looks at it.

“7:30am? As in tomorrow morning?! Dude you know I can’t do that,” she begs to Delphine. Delphine smiles slyly and turns away as the bell rings.

~

Cosima fights with herself all through first period, but manages to make it through. In second period, she has Delphine to bug rather than actually look. 

And she makes good on her promise from the day before. Their teacher writes notes on the board, and she makes sure Delphine doesn't get them, poking her, pushing her pencil, and just overall distracting her the entire class.

Delphine is baffled as to how Cosima still manages to get all the notes down while spending every second bugging her.

"Delphiiiiine, come onnnnn. Who is it??"

"Non, Cosima, you know I won't tell you," she says, again smiling to herself, this time unable to stop.

"Oh really?? Challenge accepted."

Delphine tries to protest, but obviously to no prevail. "You're ridiculous, Cos."

"Don't you know it," she shoots back, flashing a smile at the blonde.

The good thing about this argument is that it temporarily distracts Cosima. She doesn't have another urge to actually look until next period.

~

In German, Cosima sits alone. It's only her third period of the day, and she knows she won't make it. She still has 20 hours lefts. _Crap._

"We all know I can't do this," she whispers to herself, something she has a tendency to do with no close friends around to whisper to instead.

She laughs at herself. "I'm hopeless. But we already knew that, so I'm just gonna go for it."

So, Cosima does the smartest dumb thing possible. She looks.

Written in the neat, loopy handwriting of 16 year old Delphine Cormier is a name: 'Delphine Cormier'.

Cosima forgets to breathe. _Holy shit. What? What? WhAT? WHAT?! Holy shit. But-?!_

Cosima doesn't really pay attention for the rest of the class. Or the next. She has her last class with Delphine.

~

Delphine also doesn't really pay attention during fourth period. Not that she needs to; it's French. But she tries to most of the time anyway.

Delphine is also thinking about Cosima Niehaus' left hand. _Merde. Did I really do that? Well, no taking it back now. Unless...-No, Delphine, you did it. That's a good thing. Plus, she has probably looked by now, knowing her._

~~~


	3. Chapter 3

Unfortunately for the girls, they don't have lunch together. Delphine, being a native French speaker, is in a higher level class, making her miss their grade’s normal lunch.

So they can't talk until last period. And talking in English class is always a bad idea because they both really need to pay attention.

Cosima doesn't know what to say to Delphine. So she just doesn't.

Delphine doesn't know if Cosima has looked, though she had figured she would have. But Cosima doesn't say anything, so neither does Delphine.

They sit in silence all class, shooting glances at each other and taking notes, though neither of them actually processing what they're supposed to be learning.

Many times, Delphine looks up to see Cosima just watching her, awe and confusion vaguely showing in her face, and quickly turning away when they make eye contact. After the fourth or fifth time, Delphine decides: _Yeah, Cosima definitely looked._

Delphine isn't really sure how to proceed. Clearly, Cosima is still freaking out a bit or they'd be talking. So she doesn't do anything. Maybe Cosima will be okay by the time class ends.

~

Orrr maybe she won't be.

They have separate clubs. Delphine's runs until 3, Cosima's till 3:15. They normally hang out together in the library after.

So Delphine waves bye to Cosima after English and they go their separate ways, both still bubbling with inner turmoil.

Delphine is worried that she confused Cosima, was too forward with her, maybe even freaked her out.

Cosima is confused, but not about Delphine's sudden confession, about how to use the next 20 minutes to plan the best way to ask Del out. She pulls out her phone.

(2:41) Cosima: meet me in the corner opposite my normal one in the library, make sure Del doesn't see you. Code Pink

(2:41) Sarah: perfect, planning on ditching club anyway, meet you there

Cosima loves her sister because they understand each other. They have their own things that they don't need to ever explain but they both understand. They can page each other whenever necessary because they'd only do it for something important, and they both know that.

She wants to just turn around but reconsiders, cutting around through the 200s because she knows Delphine could see her walking back down the 100s. 

Thankfully, she runs into Sarah on her way towards the 200s, so they walk together to the library, Cosima filling her sister in.

They get to the planned location and they only have 15 minutes left. 

"Shit, Cos, let's fuckin' get workin'," Sarah urges.

"Yeah, thanks, Sarah. That'd be helpful but what the fuck do I do?!" Cosima snaps back.

"Okay, it's okay, you're only minorly freaking out. That's normal. You're okay," Sarah tries to soothe her sister, "How about we just plan a simple question and you ask it?"

"That... That doesn't feel good enough for her," Cosima whines, looking around anxiously, her stress clearly building.

Sarah moves around Cos, trying to get her attention. "Hey, hey, look at me. You don't need to worry anymore. She basically fuckin' told you. You don't have to worry about rejection. Plain and simple for now, to get your heart rate down. So much has happened today, you don't need any more stimulation."

Cosima breathes in for a few seconds, holds it, and pushes all the air out. She repeats this a few times until she's calm enough to check the time. 2:58. _Holy shit. Okay, Sarah's right. There's no doubt anymore. Why am I worried? I'm okay._

Sarah says something to Cosima about leaving. Cosima just nods, not really listening, still trapped in her own thoughts. She goes over to wait by their normal spot, now prepared for Delphine to find her.

~~~


	4. Chapter 4

At 3:01, Delphine passes Sarah leaving the library. She immediately realizes something is up. Sarah never hangs out in the library.

She signs in and turns around, noticing Cosima sitting in her normal spot by the window, perched on the edge of one of two comfy chairs she'd clearly dragged over from the now broken circle. She doesn't see Delphine coming, she's watching the crowd on the ground a story beneath her.

Delphine puts her bag down behind the other chair and hesitates. She gently touches Cosima's shoulder and walks around her chair, sitting down on the arm and still not removing her hand.

Cosima feels Delphine before she sees her. And she feels her stomach drop just a lot and then get lifted back up by a hoard of butterflies a few moments later.

"Delphine, hey!" She says, nervously but with an overcompensating amount of excitement.

"Enchanté, Cosima," Delphine sends back, smiling shyly.

Cosima considers for a sec. Then she takes Delphine's hand off her shoulder and kisses the back of her knuckles. 

Delphine looks taken aback. Such a forward expression of affection was not something she was expecting. But she isn't going to complain.

Cosima seems to realize that she's shocked Delphine and quickly lets go of her hand. 

"I'm sorry... Did I do something wrong..?" Cosima inquires, her worry growing by the second.

Delphine barely hears her though. She's been lost in Cosima since she got to the library. Now that's she brought herself to admit her feelings, she can't stop herself from thinking about them. 

She's just sitting so close to Cosima Niehaus. So close. And Cosima has just kissed her hand. 

Delphine doesn't say anything. She just reaches out to hold Cosima's hand and gives her a reassuring smiled. Cosima grins back. 

The two girls sit like that for a few minutes until Cosima says, "well, uh," she clears her throat, "some puppy zapped me and now I have to ask you out." Delphine laughs before Cosima continues, "on the bright side, that puppy is really cute." 

Cosima grins to herself, glad she got through it, as Delphine giggles. 

"Well, whoever that puppy is, they're really the matchmaker," Delphine winks, "seems like they knew who was hiding feelings, no?" Cosima grins again, looking straight into Delphine's eyes. (Well maybe looking gay into her eyes, I mean, come on.) 

"Yeah," she says distractedly, "I guess you did." Cosima stands up, Delphine's hand still in hers. "What do you think about heading over to the park?"

It was something they rarely did, but simply for the reason of not having enough time. But today, Delphine had decided to walk to give her flexibility after school, and Cosima was told to find a way home whenever. So they both had time.

They grin at each other and pick up their bags, still not letting go of each other's hand.

~~~


	5. Chapter 5

They walk to the park in comfortable silence, hand in hand, "accidentally" bumping into each other every few steps. They both love the closeness, neither wants to get away. 

When they get to the park, they deposit their bags on the ground and climb up to Cosima's favorite spot: on top of a rather uncomfortable rung bridge. They both get used to it pretty quickly though, and they chat away the minutes, forgetting about the bar-shaped dents in their butts.

The time is punctuated by light touches and grins and smirks and smiles and laughs. Even when neither has anything to say, they manage to silently connect, reveling in their time together.

Eventually, it starts getting dark and they both remember they actually have work to do. They walk (in a manner much like the one from before) to Delphine's house, where Cosima bids her farewell with a kiss on each hand and cheek. 

"Bye, Delphine," Cosima smiles.

"Bye..." Delphine replies, trying to hide how huge her grin is.

Cosima turns and walks away, and Delphine lingers on the porch, her hands in her jeans pockets, pushing down as hard as she can so as to not appear so obviously giddy. It doesn't work because she's grinning like an idiot, and staring down the street, not wanting to miss a second of Cosima.

Just before Cosima reaches the end of the street, she turns around and waves, having felt Delphine watching her the entire time.

Delphine finally goes inside when Cosima turns onto the main road. She doesn't stop smiling until she falls asleep, which happens to be at 1am because she and Cosima stay up texting in the cutest, flirtiest way imaginable. 

~~~


	6. Chapter 6

When Cosima wakes up the next morning, she really can't tell the difference between the dreams and reality from the day before.

Thankfully, she has physical evidence of one thing. Delphine Cormier's name is still written on the palm of her hand. It has faded a little, but it's still there. She knows it'll probably wash off in the shower, but it tells her what she needs to know. 

Delphine Cormier likes her. She likes Delphine Cormier. They had basically turned the previous afternoon into the most informal and unofficial date ever. And also the best date ever.

Cosima remembered her favorite moments from the day before. _Delphine's hand in hers from the instant they started walking down the library stairs and not letting go until they needed their hands to climb. Delphine stumbling with graceful clumsiness, trying to get up to where Cosima insisted they sit in the park. Delphine's gaze on her back her entire walk down the street away from the blonde._

~

Cosima makes herself and Sarah a little late for school because she's busy daydreaming in the bathroom rather than washing up.

When they get there, Delphine is again already waiting, but today there is a noticeable change in her demeanor. She's radiating happiness, even though her face remains in a neutral "it's-much-too-early-to-be-awake" state. 

Sarah, having been told everything by Cosima when she got home the night before, tactfully excuses herself to talk to a teacher. Cosima silently thanks whatever larger power might exist for her wonderful sister.

As soon as Cosima puts her bag down, she captures Delphine in a hug, kissing her cheek as she pulls away.

"Hi," she says with a grin. 

Delphine laughs and takes her hand, gently stroking a thumb over the brunette's knuckles. 

"Enchanté."

~~~

They talk all morning, everyone else somehow managing to end up a few feet over, giving them their space. When the last warning bell finally rings, Delphine grabs Cosima's hand again (it had been lost in her wild hand gestures as she spoke) and starts to pull her down the hall.

"Walk me to class?" she asks, shyly.

"Of course," the brunette replies, flipping her bag onto only one shoulder so as to not break their connected hands.

When they get to Delphine's class, they linger outside the door, Delphine leaning against the wall and Cosima still holding her hand. Cosima notices Delphine's quick glance at her lips but holds back her grin. She brings the blonde's hand up to her mouth and kisses her palm before letting go.

"Well, I'd better get to class."

"Oui... I'll see you later?"

"Bien sûr," Cosima replies in a terrible accent, making Delphine laugh at her as she turns and walks back down the hallway.

~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 6 chapters for now but maybe more will come?


End file.
